Sam Fouse, Area 12 Board of Directors
September 22, 2026
Fellow Area 12 Members:
This is the first of what I intend to be a regular quarterly message to you with news and views relevant to Area 12 members from the perspective of your director.
I’ve now been serving for just 9 months, so I am still on the steep side of the learning curve, but perhaps I should start by describing what a director does, sharing what I have learned so far. Directors are unpaid volunteers, usually members with broad experience over many years having volunteered and/or participated as a competitor in multiple programs. We do not ‘direct’ nor have the authority to dictate actions nor policy at the Area or Division level. We exist to represent the general membership, but while we are your representative, we are expected to vote as a Board member in accordance with what we believe to be in the best interest of the entire club. As my predecessor best put it to me; “I can be your voice, but I may not always be able to be your vote”.
Upon becoming a Board member, we are each assigned as liaisons to 3 or 4 committees and advisory boards which are made up of members like you and I. We (usually 1 or 2 of us) attend online meetings, interact, ask questions and take notes, and then report the meeting’s proceedings back to the entire Board at a monthly meeting where issues are shared, discussed, and debated. If there are items which need to be voted on, the committee or advisory board will request that the desired action be posted to a portal for a Board vote. Actions require an up or down majority vote. There are 13 voting directors.
I have been assigned and serve as a liaison to the Road Racing Competition Committee (RRCC), formerly the CRB (I was already on the GT Advisory Committee), the Race Experience Board (REB) of which I was already a member, plus the Time Trial Board (TTB) and the Court of Appeals (COA). On a couple of these (REB and TTB), the liaison has a vote while on others we do not. It’s not unusual for each of us to have 3 or 4 ‘Zoom’ meetings during a week.
It’s important to point out that all of the advisory committees that we serve on or report on are made up entirely of regular dues-paying members, and that rules changes or actions come from the membership up (you and me) and rarely from the paid staff down. You can petition for actions, and you can also volunteer to serve on a committee or advisory board yourself to have a say in the rules process.
Besides the duties I’ve described above, we are also expected to attend and contribute at Club events to interact and get input from the membership. So, since being added to the BOD in Kansas City in December, here’s a rundown of my year so far. First, I continue to serve my Region (NCR) as Treasurer and as one of two Race Chairs. I’ve also coached at a couple of TNiA’s and Time Attack events, race chaired twice at VIR, and volunteered at Road Atlanta’s and Barber’s HST’s. In mid-July I was back in Kansas City for our mid-year F2F meetings. Looking ahead, I’ll be at the Runoffs all week starting on the 26th and I also plan to attend the SIC at Roebling and probably the ARRC at Road Atlanta. A couple of us will be at the Time Trial National Championships and then in December we’re all back to KC for meetings. SCCA helps some with expenses, but this isn’t about us. We’re committed to serving you and that requires a high commitment of time.
This should give you some idea of what we do and how our time is spent. If you have any suggestions of topics you’d like me to cover or you have any questions or need help in any area, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I may not have the answer, but I will do my best to find it for you.
Thanks!
Sam Fouse
(919) 422-4396 phone or text
ncr55treasurer@gmail.com
sfouse@scca.com
